Imagine this — getting dressed for a night out on the town, belly growling and having no earthly idea what will be served up at the dinner table.

The sense of mystique, the wonder, the element of surprise are all things that Black Tie Catering, a company based in East Point, capitalizes on with their much buzzed about Secret Supper events.

Black Tie has hosted 11 of such events to date, with out-of-the-box venues such as Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta Ballet, the Cyclorama and most recently the Rialto Center for Performing Arts of Georgia State University for New Years Eve.

Black Tie’s first Secret Supper was held in November of 2009.

“We really wanted to throw a party that we would want to go to,” said co-owner Neil Rollins. “Then also, we wanted to start giving our customers a different view of what we could do and all the possibilities.”

In short, the process for one wanting to attend a Secret Supper is simple.

Ticket details are posted on their website, www.blacktieatl.com in advance of the event. Prices vary but each ticket is all inclusive — for food, drinks and some sort of entertainment.

Attendees find out via email where the supper will be, but still have no knowledge of what the menu will contain.

That secret is contained until their arrival at the venue.

Secret Supper, however, is just one aspect of the business.

The catering company, previously known as Your Backyard Barbecue and then Black Tie Barbecue, is committed to bringing an uncomplicated, all flair, fine dining experience to their clients, whether it be a corporate event, wedding or birthday party.

The four co-owners, Neil and Latoyin Rollins and Spencer and Allison Humphrey, bring a wealth of experience from fields outside of the food industry.

Naming their business Black Tie came as the suggestion from a friend who attended one of their first events.

“Our first event was a wine tasting for 100 people,” said Spencer Humphrey, co-owner. “We did lots of fancy stuff like lamb burgers and shrimp skewers and had a friend say, ‘The food is so good you want to dress up and eat.’”

And the name stuck and will continue to stick as the business trudges forward after being alive and well throughout the metro Atlanta for the past four years.

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